Military and law enforcement organizations often seek to employ low-energy training ammunition having a shorter range and lower penetration capacity than standard, original ammunition. In order to facilitate such training, it is desirably to modify the standard or “stock” firearm to fire this low-energy training ammunition. Many weapon conversion kits have been produced and sold in recent years, and due to the increasing use of light-weight polymer materials for weapon receiver and frame parts, more complex geometrical weapon designs are now possible. Previously, such complexity was not a significant concern since nearly all weapon frames and receivers were produced using metals, such as steel, aluminium, or high strength alloys. Newer, more geometrically complicated conversion kit designs often require a two-piece barrel in order for the kit to be assembled onto the duty slide.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,357,331B1, which is incorporated by reference herein, illustrates just one such example, disclosing a conversion kit for a recoil-operating automatic pistol. The conversion kit in this reference includes a two-piece barrel having chamber and muzzle portions that are secured together (e.g., via mating threaded regions) in conjunction with a conversion slide. The chamber portion is installed on the receiver of the stock firearm by insertion through an ejection port of the conversion slide, and the conversion muzzle piece of the conversion barrel is then inserted through the barrel hole of the conversion slide and finally threaded to the chamber piece to complete assembly.
Conversion kits such as those illustrated in the cited reference often require an additional tool to secure the muzzle piece of the conversion barrel to the chamber piece during assembly. For example, in the case where the muzzle piece of the conversion barrel is secured to the chamber piece via mating threaded regions, a wrench or the like is necessary to grip the engagement end of the muzzle piece of the conversion barrel and rotate and securely tighten it into place. While such a method is advantageous in many respects, it requires the addition of an extra tool, which adds complexity, weight, and cost to the kit. In many cases, the end user is responsible for converting his/her duty/service weapon to training mode by installing the conversion kit him/herself. In most cases, special, dedicated or other kinds of tools are not readily available and the need for said tools creates an additional and undesirable logistical burden on any agency/service wishing to employ said training devices. Furthermore, such tools can easily be misplaced or lost, so a two-piece conversion kit barrel presents an additional obstacle for the agencies/services considering the procurement of such weapon training systems.
Accordingly, methods and systems are desired for improved firearm conversion kits. Other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.